


Sticks and Stones

by RedCrossX



Category: Funhaus (Video Blogging RPF), Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF, fh - Fandom
Genre: Adam the Reporter, Comic Book Style, Comic Book Violence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Guns, Hurt/Comfort, Kind Of Graphic Violence?, M/M, Mentions of past abuse, Past Abuse, Pre-Relationship, Superhero Bones, Superpowers, mentions of abuse, mentions of past physical abuse, superhero au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-02
Updated: 2017-10-04
Packaged: 2019-01-08 03:02:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12245802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedCrossX/pseuds/RedCrossX
Summary: A man with superpowers doesn't really want to save the day.Things change when there's a cute guy involved.





	1. Sticks

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lonelyjournalkeeper](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lonelyjournalkeeper/gifts).



> Bones Superpower AU meeting the lovely reporter Adam Kovic.
> 
> Mentions of past abuse, so be wary. (Mainly mentions of physical abuse)
> 
> Thanks!

The last pain Adam felt from breaking a bone was a long time ago.

 The feeling of cracking bones was an old sensation at this point. Instead, there was just the strange idea of a bone cracking like plastic, but then it would be rectified. After the impact, after his bones broke; there was a flash of heat that warmed his body, and he’d stand up once more and smile.

 “Not bad.”

 Depending on the opponent, there were two reactions to this response. Either the person would run, afraid of the supernatural monstrosity that stood before them, or they would fly into a rage.

 The second one was always more fun.

 This brute rushed forward again, hurling his meaty fist as though it was a wrecking ball directly at Adam’s jaw, but the man ducked at the last minute and drove his knee into the man’s crotch. The man keeled over, cringing as his hands reactively moved to defend the sensitive area, as Adam swung his own fist for the man’s chin, knocking him backward with a heavy uppercut.

 The man fell backward. His head hit the concrete with a heavy thud as he was knocked out cold, and Bones stepped back with a smile, glistening underneath a neon sign with sweat and a mischievous grin.

“Anyone else wants a shot?” He asked, grandstanding to the crowd of rogues that surrounded who was likely their boss.

 There was no other response beyond their horrified stares. In a flash, they’d taken their fallen comrade and fled from the alleyway as a couple other people cheered. Adam walked past, clapping a few on the back as the wrapped their arms around his sides and led him back into the bar, but it wasn’t long before he’d found his seat in the Bungalow Bar with a satisfied sigh.

 “Thanks again,” Dan grinned across the bar at him, placing a pint of his drink of choice next to him, “Didn’t think that guy would be so unruly.”

“It’s what you pay me for, isn’t it?” Adam smirked.

 Dan just shook his head with a smile, “I’m still _amazed_ that you manage this. How _do_ you do it?”

 The sarcasm oozed from his voice. Dan was one of the first people that had heard about this unusual adaptation when he started displaying the unusual signs of his incredible healing. For everyone else, he’d kind of reached the status of “folk hero” among the streets of their relatively dangerous town. And hopefully, that’s where it would stay.

 “I just got a knack for it,” he smiled.

“Well, thanks again, I suppose. I still don’t know why we still have jerks like that coming through when we have a literal superhuman- “

“Shhhh! Don’t go throwing around words like that!” Adam groaned, “Next thing we know I’m being pushed to put on some spandex and fight crime or something!”

Dan’s only response was the slightest shrug, to which Adam could only roll his eyes as his eyes left to scan the bar. It was your usual hang out – with lights a little darker than you think they should be on polished fake-wood surfaces while people put their drinks down and talk in quieter voices. And then from the corner of his eye, he saw something that made his blood went cold.

 “…I gotta go.” Adam coughed, and Dan’s eyes furrowed in response.

 Dan glanced at him for a moment, “A bit sudden, don’t you think?”

“Sorry,” Adam shrugged, already stepping up from the bench stool as he pulled his grey hoodie over his shoulders, “I... I just have to leave.”

 Dan tried to say something, but Adam was already gone. Whatever ghost he saw had claimed the haunt for the evening, and as such Adam had to leave.

 The midnight walk back to his apartment was not one to be taken haphazardly, but when one heals faster and stronger than a tree, the walk anywhere becomes woefully uneventful. There were some nights that Adam almost hoped someone would try to jump him just to let his anger out.

 What he didn’t expect to see when he got back to his apartment was a slip of white paper posted on the window outside the complex that let his chest drop.

 “Fumigation? Now?” Adam groaned.

 “Perfect. Naturally.”

 “Excuse me,” a deep voice announced from behind him, and Adam leaped two feet before turning around.

 “Fuck, dude! Why’re you sneaking up on people, you know where you are?”

 The man took a few steps backwards, his hands raised in self-defense as his wide, brown eyes seemed to display more concern than his grizzled goatee might have suggested.

“Sorry – don’t kick around here that often.” The man mumbled.

 Adam took in the figure quite quickly – his long, clean black jacket and shiny shoes seemed out-of-place in the dusty street, down to the collared shirt he could pick out beneath and the well-tailored haircut that seemed to announce that he was a man who indeed didn’t kick around that often.

 “Clearly. You lost or something?”

“Well, I’m looking for someone,” he stated, “and I believe that I just ran into him.”

 Adam blinked incredulously.

 “The name’s Adam Kovic – I’m a journalist hoping to interview ‘Bones’ if he’s up for it.”

 Adam had two thoughts hit him at once. One: How dare this man have the same name as him and be so cute; and two: Dan was gonna pay for throwing that nickname around.

 The duo found refuge at a nearby 24-hour coffee shop as Adam took a sip from the warm frothy drink that this other Adam had bought for him while a characteristic downpour started outside. Naturally, the place was near-empty at that late an hour, save for the pour young soul that pulled the short straw on the midweek night shift.

 “So, no secret identity or anything, huh?” Kovic chuckled as Bones struggled to not look pleased by the warm drink in his hands.

 He shook his head, “I’m not a superhero. I’m just a guy with a cool quirk.”

“Right, so you’ve said.” Adam cracked a grin, “That’s quote-worthy right there.”

Kovic stretched his neck as he pulled out a small notebook from his pocket, and Bones found himself staring at the way Adam’s face moved, the way his eyes skirted over his notes as his teeth bit at the back of his pen. A familiar feeling crept up Bones’ spine when Kovic’s eyes came back to meet his.

 “So, I’m just gonna ask a bunch of questions – you don’t have to answer them all, obviously. Like, if I’m being honest I’m just super grateful you agreed to this at all- “

“Hey man, anyone that buys me a coffee can ask whatever they want,” Bones shrugged, trying to act cool, “Considering they keep me anonymous and all that jazz.”

 “I can definitely agree to that, even if your manner of speech is suspiciously close to my grandfather’s.”

 Bones' cold glare was received with a sparkling grin right before Adam asked his first question.

 “So, when did you figure out you had this… thing going on?”

“I fell out a window eight stories up,” Adam stated,

“Shit, seriously?”

“I mean, yeah. Hadn’t so much as broken a bone before then, so first time I guess.”

“How did that even happen?”

 Bones took a sip of his drink, “Uhh… I was drunk or something – all I really remember was waking up on the ground, covered in blood – but I was totally fine.”

 “So that was a couple weeks ago then,” Adam inquired, “When the police found a place where there should’ve been a body and found nothing.”

 “Yup. Deadman walking over here.”

“Nah. You’re way too handsome to be a zombie.”

 Adam’s pen stopped moving as he said those words, a shade of crimson spreading across his face as Bones’ cheeks came to match.

 “Right then….” Adam tried to start again.

“Hey,” Bones mumbled, “you’re just sayin’ what I’ve been thinking about you all night…”

 The conversation went on much longer than he anticipated after their shameless attempts at flirting. Bones swore he could hear the lone barista groan on numerous occasion as they continued to fall on and off their interview for the next little while. Bones was quick to notice Adam’s chicken-scratch writing that appeared almost like an alien language to the potential superhuman, but the way his inquisitive eyes could keep the conversation going.

By the end of it, Bones found himself with the realization that it was incredibly easy to talk to the reporter. Responding to questions with questions as they chattered like two excited puppies about wherever the conversation took him.

 It was nearing 2 AM when they started packing up. Bones was in the middle of pulling his jacket over his shoulder, the chills from early completely gone when the thought came back to him:

 “Shit, my apartment.”

 “What’s up?” Adam asked, though the answer came to him before Bones could even respond, “Oh, right! The fumigation.”

“Yeah. Totally slipped my mind,” he chuckled sadly, “I did not plan for this.”

 At once Adam clapped a hand on Bones back, and he froze.

 “Well, I have a pull-out. You can stay at my place tonight if you want.”

 Bones could only muster the slightest nod as his theoretical volume dial started turning down, “T-thank you.”

 “Of course,” Adam whispered, “We may want to just use the one bed.”

* * *

 

His apartment was everything Bones’ was not. Organized, sleek, and comfortable to live in. The man’s kitchenette had several unique appliances just sitting and waiting to be used, along with enough room for a nice thrift pull-out couch in front of Adam’s television. Bones didn’t even know what to think when Adam muttered “mind the cat” as he felt a ball of fur curl around his leg before walking away.

 “You want anything? Water? Another coffee? Something harder?” Adam called from the kitchen as Bones took his jacket off and hung it in the front closet. Rain dripped from it slowly as Bones let the warm radiating from the sink into his skin.

 He couldn’t remember exactly how he responded, but soon enough Adam was curled into his side, both holding a warm cup of something as Adam turned on some music from a Spotify playlist.

 “Like your singer/songwriter, huh?” Bones smirked, trying not to sink into Adam’s infatuating eyes as Bones witnessed Adam shed his reporter shell in front of his eyes, and become just this beautiful person – a man with a large amount of confidence.

 “It seems to set the mood,” he shrugged, “Or at least some of my colleagues seem to think so.”

 “You don’t seem too sold.”

 “They focus more on our web stuff. Click bait type things with facts that may or may not be true.” Adam chuckled.

 Then, there was silence. A moment as the spark leapt between them. With nothing to lose, Bones leaned in.

 And their lips met. Suddenly, Bones didn’t really care about the music playing in the background as he and Adam seemed to simply connect. Bones didn’t realize how bad he’d had it with the last guy until this very moment –

 Then the glass shattered. He felt Adam’s hand glide gently up to his thigh and the velvet touch turned to thorns.

 He didn’t even realize what happened as his back was pressed against the arm of the couch, Adam pushed away with a brow furrowed in concern as Bones’ chest heaved. Wide eyes as the window fell to pieces and he felt like he was falling.

 “Bones…” Adam’s voice was distant. Bones scrambled out of the seat and stood up, eyes flicking towards the coffee cup that was kicked over, and dark coffee stained the carpet like a bloodstain.

 “Shit. Shit. God I’m – this was a mistake I shouldn’t’ve – “

“Bones, it’s okay. It’s just a spill.” Adam said slowly.

 Bones glanced up. He could see the tension in Adam’s arms, the firmness of his eyes as he tried to keep from appearing as though he was freaking out the same way.

Then Adam kept talking, “Are you okay? Please, just take a seat for a second.”

 Bones wasn’t sure what to do. His whole body yearned to bolt away like a frantic rabbit, but he also felt like any movement would lead to more than coffee staining Adam’s floor.

 But even then, Bones noticed Adam keeping his distance – not like he was afraid, but- rather a need to be constant, it appeared. Everything blurred behind a veil of tears as Bones finally took a seat. Adam was careful as he moved a blanket over his shoulders – Bones eyes staring at his hands as they pulled away.

 He thought he heard Adam say something about calling him if he was needed, but for some reason, Bones was falling again…

 And then he fell asleep.


	2. Stones

There was a note on Adam’s table in the living room when Bones woke up to the greyish light shining through thin curtains.

  _Had a good time last night. Call me later?_

It was cheesy and cliché, but since nothing had really happened between them last night – it meant the universe.

 Bones scrambled to press the number into his phone – brain forcing the uncomfortable thoughts from the night before back into his mind’s dark recesses. The sound of shattering glass reverberated through his brain as he jumped up to stare at the windows, but breathing became easier as he saw they were intact. Nothing had happened. He was fine.

 He was out of Adam’s apartment a few minutes later, jacket back on his shoulders. The rain from last night did little to convince the grey clouds to go away, but Bones found himself wandering back home, hoping to just wash away the nightmare that was the night before.

 Of course, the place wasn’t quite ready to take him in again.

Dan wasn’t too surprised to see him stumble into the bar wearing the same clothes as the day before. Instead, he just pushed a fiver across the counter.

 “Wanna grab some coffees and you can help me clean up?”

 Bones didn’t even have to say anything. He was gone in a flash. And that could describe the day too. No one bothered to pick a fight today, so Bones just helped with odd jobs. Dan knew of Bones’ tendency to phase out like this – there wasn’t much he could say that hadn’t already been said.

 With that, everything rolled over into its normal rhythm as Bones kept staring at the number in his phone every few minutes deciding whether it was the right time to send a message or not. Eventually, there was a lull in the slow beat of the day. Finally, Bones couldn’t hold it off any longer – and he sent a message.

  _Same coffee shop tonight?_

 Granted, it was 2 pm, so likely Adam was probably still finishing a story for whatever publication he wrote for – a question he never got around to asking.

Jesus, Bones. Learn something about the guy you’re into.

 Even so, the silence was heartbreaking. Bones checked his phone even more frequently than he had before sending the message, and with each passing minute Bones was more and more convinced that Adam had ditched him for the next person to show up.

 He was moments away from abandoning all hope when two people ran in with frantic looks on their faces.

 “Hey, is there an Adam here?” The shorter woman asked Dan, short for breath.

 Dan gave a quick nod to the concerned pair, but Bones was already walking over.

 “What’s going on?”

 The pair seemed to stop, sizing him up like they were scouting him for a photo shoot.

 “Hey, I’m Elyse. This is James, my husband.”

 Bones blinked, “Okay. Nice to meet you. Can I help you with something?”

 

 Elyse nodded quickly, “Actually, yes. We work with Adam.”

The man, James, stepped forward, cold sweat dripping down the back of his neck as he slid a piece of paper into Bones’ hands.

 His body petrified.

 Eyes glued to the note in front of him, Bones lost his sense of the world around him as he saw some simple words on display.

  _Bring this ‘superhuman’ that everyone’s talking about and I won’t have to hurt this pretty boy reporter._

The language was vague when it came to motivation, but an address to an old warehouse with Kovic’s friends staring at him like he held the secrets of the universe. But in that moment, Bones had a single decision to make.

 And he felt more and more like he made the wrong one with every step he made towards the door and to the nearest taxi he could find.

* * *

* * *

 

 Bones loved his superhero movies.

He hated watching it in the first person. Unarmed, wearing what he’d normally wear and appearing as some mysterious street man emerging from the main road (Streetman – there’s a superhero name) and marching towards the warehouse listed, he was almost expecting henchmen to be waiting in the doorway.

 Instead, there was a cardboard sign with words written in black permanent marker telling him “THE REPORTERS IN HERE”. It was so obnoxious Bones couldn’t help but groan.

 He kept waiting for the hidden cameras to show up – for someone to use this as footage for their dumb talk show so they could show him off like some caged dog. But the weight of responsibility was officially on his shoulders, and while he wasn’t going to start patrolling streets, he was going to deal with the guy that had messed with someone he’d felt a connection to that he hadn’t felt in ages.

 Metal steps creaked as he pressed forwards towards the roof of the factory. Bones’ exhaustion was ever-prevalent as he realized that the simple act of walking upstairs was offering far too much resistance to his already sluggish form. Nights like the one before were never restful regardless of how much he slept, but now he felt it as he slumped up the stairs like a slug in a beanie.

 Then he heard the mumble of voices. The door to the rooftop was getting closer as he started to pick up the sass-filled tones of a certain reporter.

“I just think this is a lot of effort to go through to beat the shit out of someone.”

“For the hundredth time, shut the fuck up!”

“Well, if you know where you’ve gone wrong then I guess I have nothing else that needs to be said.”

Despite the situation, Bones could help but smirk.

 Still, as his hands grasped the bar, he had a moment of worry, much like he’d have every time.

_What if this is the moment my power decides to stop working?_

 His train of thoughts slowed as he opened the door like the hero on his way to a boss battle. There was the thug sitting, waiting next to Adam who was…

Okay, he was tied to a chair to give the guy credit, but like, Adam’s hands were completely free. It was only when Bones noticed the gun in his hands that he understood why the rope maybe wasn’t so insignificant.

 “Thank God you showed up,” the man snarled, moving the gun away from Adam’s head and pointing it towards Bones.

 Bones tried to remain nonchalant. His eyes darted between the gun and the man’s eyes again and again, trying hard to ignore Adam’s wide eyes staring at him with expressive concern.

 “I mean, you stole a guy after I went on my first date with him,” Bones sighed, “Dick move.”

 “I’m just not happy with how our bout went the other day, so I’m here to make it square.”

 He pointed the gun at him. Bones felt ice run over his body. Words suddenly faded in his throat.

 “You’re joking,” he stammered, tongue feeling three times larger in his mouth as he fumbled through words, “So I beat you in a fist fight and now you wanna shoot at me?”

“No one gets in a fight with me and gets out of it without learning their lesson,” The man snarled.

He really shouldn’t have responded the way he did, but at this point Bones couldn’t stop himself.

“Masculinity that fragile, huh?”

 A vein popped in the man’s neck as his face contorted into an artistic representation of pure, uncorrupted anger. He wasted no time in pulling the trigger to the point where Bones only reaction was to duck.

 Putting his head right in front of the bullet.

Time slowed. Bones caught Adam’s eyes wide as he seemed to be in the middle of shouting something – the man was frozen in rage, and the bullet was headed right between his eyes.

 There wasn’t even time for a thought.


	3. Bones

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A realization and an explanation.

Bones hadn’t had a real chance to put the full extent of his unique ability to the test. He assumed that falling out of the eighth story of an apartment building was the most danger he was ever going to get into, much less going up against someone who was more than willing to put a bullet through his head.

 So, when the light came back and he caught air in his lungs once more, Bones was almost tempted to lay down for the moment and just embrace it…

…but that would mean lying in a puddle of his own blood – a thought he didn’t want to consider – so he leapt back to his feet, placing a hand against his forehead as he looked behind him to see, amidst a sickening red that was hard to stomach, a small piece of metal from where the bullet had gone all the way through, leaving no mark on his head.

 The guy across from him had changed. An expression of rage had transformed into one of terror as Bones rose like a zombie. Bones didn’t have time to consider the blood he lost and if that regenerated as fast as the rest of him, but amidst a fog of exhaustion, pain and delirium he found himself with enough energy to crack a sarcastic grin and walk towards the guy.

 “Is that all you got?”

 The man’s gun dropped to the ground. Adam, mouth hanging open, could barely respond as Bones walked over, untied the rope and swung the man into his hands bridal-style.

 Adam punched him in the shoulder as he did so lightly.

 “Don’t fucking do shit like that!” Adam growled, “Scared the crap out of me!”

Bones smiled, “Sorry, this seemed like the best way to assure another date.”

 The man on the roof, suddenly knocked out of his stupor, fell to the floor as he reached for the gun, but Bones was quick to kick it out of the way.

“Hold on, I’m not done with you,” The man growled.

Bones rolled his eyes, “Well I’m done with you,”

And with that, he leapt off the roof. Adam held on for dear life as Bones aimed for the classic superhero landing.

 And then squealed in pain at the sound of multiple bones in his legs breaking and then stitching themselves back together.

“MOTHERFUCKER!”

 Adam, still reeling from how Bones managed to take all that impact, helped him up to his feet as they finished healing, and both looked up to the roof above, where the bulky man stared at them like a perturbed gargoyle. With a final burst of energy, the two men flipped him the bird before Adam helped Bones walk back out to the street.

 They found themselves back at the same coffee shop they had the night before. Bones, now a beanie and hoodie less as they’d been ditched in a trash bag which now sat at their feet, drank graciously from the coffee that Adam bought him.

 “Y’know, after getting shot in the head, jumping through a window or off a building seems considerably less scary,” Bones shrugged.

Adam, still trying to appear somewhat angry about the whole debacle, managed instead to stare wistfully at the man across from him as he replayed the events of the afternoon. The man had snuck up behind him on his way to work and pushed him into the back of a van. He didn’t really know what was going on until he was sitting in that chair on top of the warehouse. He didn’t think the ‘reporter getting kidnapped by the hero’s nemesis’ thing was going to happen.

 Now he was just cursing that it had happened to him. Now there was no story he could write without it sounding like his own ridiculous fiction.

 “Were you not a fan of heights, then?” Adam asked.

 Bones shrugged, “Before… this happened, there… wasn’t much that didn’t scare me.”

The conversation followed with a gentle pause. The acoustic guitar music strummed from speakers in the background as both took a second to take a drink.

Then, Bones coughed, “…About last night?”

“It’s no big deal,” Adam smiled, “I didn’t mean to rush you or anything- “

Bones shook his head, “No, that’s not what – I mean, if, if we want to go anywhere with this, then I should probably let you know something.”

Adam leaned across the table, grabbing Bones’ hand in a way that only felt natural.

“So, the last person that I was that… close with, turned out to be a total ass.”

“When you say that- “

“I mean he was abusive, and I got into such a negative headspace that I thought that was how it was supposed to be.”

“Shit, dude.”

 Bones rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand, trying actively to distract himself from thoughts and images that caused tears to well up in his eyes.

 “S-so, it’s gonna take time, that’s all I mean. Like, I-I think you’re great so far, and I would really want to- “

“Bones, look at me,” Adam whispered, and their eyes met again. Bones felt the same spark that he felt a night ago.

 Adam just smiled, rubbing at his eyes with his free hand, “I will wait forever if that’s what you need me to do.”

 Bones’ grip tightened on Adam’s hand, and before he knew it the pair were locking lips once more, across a table in a public coffee shop before he could even stop himself.

 Then he pulled away, letting air refill his lungs for a moment as Adam started to pull him out of the store, their hands still connected.

 “So, where’s this asshole now?”

 “He kinda fled the city,” Bones shrugged, “Y’know, after pushing me out a window. Probably didn’t want to be arrested for attempted murder.”

Adam’s grip grew tighter, “So that son of a bitch pushed you out of a window and then bailed?”

“It’s unfortunate that that was what I needed to snap out of that funk.”

“Okay, new plan: I’m going to reach out to some other news sources and figure out the best way to get this guy in a prison cell. Or I will personally hunt him down and kill him myself.”

“We met yesterday, and you’re already going to kill for me?”

Adam ruffled Bones’ messy hair, “I mean, you already took a bullet for me. Seems the best way to return the favour.”

 “Really, what I think would make it up would be a place to sleep and maybe binge Netflix.” Bones shrugged.

Adam’s smile grew wider, “Well Mr. Invincible, I think we can make that happen.”

The sun was setting on an eventful day as the duo walked hand and hand down a sidewalk. Bones still wasn’t a superhero, and he wasn’t planning on becoming one anytime soon.

 One daring rescue was more than enough.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> haha! Three chapters in which I didn't pay attention to their length at all1
> 
> Thanks for reading everyone, as always I appreciate the feedback.
> 
> Happy October!


End file.
